The Pug
The pug is a toy dog with a wrinkly, short-muzzled face and curled tail. The breed has a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, although often black or fawn, and a compact square body with well-developed muscles. Known in ancient China as lo-sze, pugs as breeding animals may have contributed to the English Bulldog, the modern Pekingese and the King Charles Spaniel. Pugs were brought from China to Europe in the seventeenth century and were popularized in Western Europe by the House of Orange of the Netherlands, and the House of Stuart.[2] Pugs remain popular into the twenty-first century, with some famous celebrity owners. A pug was judged Best in Show at the World Dog Show in 2004. Humor In a 23 May 2007 web issue of The Onion, the breed was lampooned in a satirical news article titled "Dog Breeders Issue Massive Recall of '07 Pugs". The piece satirized pugs and their breeders by writing of the dog and its characteristics as a faulty product, "evidenced" by a fictional quote from the American Pug Breeders Association director: "While pug owners are accustomed to dog malfunction, the latest animals are prone to more problems than just the usual joint failures, overheating, seizures, chronic respiratory defects, and inability to breed without assistance. The latest model pug is simply not in any way a viable dog." In 2012, the British cartoonist Mark Wood began a series of cartoons about Humphrey the Pug. The series was inspired by his own real-life pug Humphrey, and to illustrate "just how much fun pugs are to have around." Media and culture Pugs have been featured in television and film, including Frank the Pug in the film Men in Black, its sequel, and the follow-up animated series. Other films featuring the breed include Hotel for Dogs, The Adventures of Milo and Otis,[29] The Great Race, Disney's''Pocahontas'' and Pocahontas II, Dune, 12 Rounds, and Marie Antoinette.[32] On television, they have appeared in shows such as 101 Dalmatians, The King of Queens, Spin City, Legend of the Dragon, The West Wing, and EastEnders. Pugs have also appeared in a variety of fictional print media, including the hypnotic Petula in the "Molly Moon" series, Lady Bertram's pug in Mansfield Park and in the book Pugs: God's Little Weirdos, a spin-off from the Sheldon webcomic. They also featured in Nintendogs for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console and a "Perky Pug" pet can be accessed in Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft. Cheeka is a famous pug who appeared in the "You & I" advertising campaign of Vodafone's cellular phone service in India. Kay Thompson's Eloise, the six-year-old girl who lived in the Plaza Hotel in New York, had a pug named Weenie, whom she described as "a dog that looks like a cat." Celebrity owner Celebrity pug owners include financial radio talk show host and best-selling author Dave Ramsey, comedienne Maria Bamford, broadcaster Jonathan Ross, actors Jessica Alba, Hugh Laurie, Gerard Butler, Jenna Elfman, Billy Joel, Kelly Brook and Ted Danson, fashion designer Valentino Garavani, footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović, and musicians Rob Zombie and Frank Iero. From 1952 until the late 1960s, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor often stayed at the Moulin de la Tuilerie, a country retreat outside Paris, where Wallis Simpson "played mummy to her surrogate family of pug dogs". The famous German comedian Vicco von Bülow was a keen spokesman for the breed and featured some of his pugs in comedy sketches, claiming that "A life without pugs is possible but pointless."